Tag: North America

USPS mail internationally and domestically with one package

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

For the first time since 1995, the Postal Service’s familiar and trusted products for shipping domestically and internationally will have a new look.

With a focus on convenience, the Postal Service has redesigned all Priority Mail and Express Mail packages and envelopes, including the popular Flat Rate boxes and envelopes. Mailers can use the same Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging whether they are shipping within the United States or to another country, beginning May 14.

The design has a fresher, crisper look. The Postal Service logo is prominent alongside international symbols for use by foreign posts. The new design has ample space for required forms, labels and Intelligent Mail® barcodes.

The new packaging is expected to begin arriving in Post Offices across the country this week. All packaging also is available online at USPS.com.

Nick Barranca stressed that the Postal Service will continue to accept all existing international and domestic Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging. Barranca is vice president of product development for the Postal Service.

Express Mail and Priority Mail packages and envelopes remain available free of charge — as does package pickup.

Customers can take advantage of the personal convenience and service of having packages picked up at no extra charge at their home, saving a trip to the Post Office. Unlike other shipping companies, there is no fee for the service. Carrier Pickup is available for packages being sent by Express Mail or Priority Mail — domestic or international. There is no limit to the number of packages that can be picked up.

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USPS – Postal services offer in church

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

To provide Americans with greater convenience, the U.S. Postal Service has contracts nationwide with private operators who offer postal services at any hour.

The outlets are typically at drug stores, convenience stores, supermarkets and colleges, and they offer evening, weekend and holiday hours.

That convenience is worthwhile. But theres a catch.

The U.S. Postal Service also has made deals with several churches to operate contract postal units. One operated by the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church in Manchester, N.H., called Sincerely Yours Inc., is full of evangelical Christian displays, including posters, advertisements, artwork and photography.

For example, to the right of the postal counter, a large religious display informs customers about Jesus Christ and invites them to submit a prayer card if they need prayer in their lives. To the left of the postal counter, a television monitor plays church-related religious videos for customers waiting in line.

And this is the only post office in the downtown area, leaving no doubt that a reasonable person would see the displays as an endorsement of that church and its evangelical mission.

The U.S. Constitution includes postal services, which have been a traditional government function. On that basis, the Postal Service needs to ensure that churches arent using contract post offices to proselytize and entangle government in promoting religion.

The judge ordered the Postal Service to tell all contract postal units that in providing postal services for the government, they shall not act in a manner that proselytizes or advances religion and to monitor compliance. He ordered the church to remove displays in the contract postal unit.

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Global package race puts major carriers to the test

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

How hard is it to deliver a package to Ouagadougou? A group from the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, one of the most respected logistics programs in the world, puts the major carriers (UPS, FedEx and DHL) to the test every year with its Great Package Race, a contest to see which carrier can get a package to a very challenging locale the fastest and in the best condition.
A group of 60 logistics students, led by logistics expert John Bartholdi, a professor in the Stewart School, sends identical boxes bound for places like Lomé, Togo and Split, Croatia. With no indication that there’s a competition underway, each carrier picks up its parcel, and the race begins.

Admittedly, the race is an extreme test of the carriers’ ability to deliver anywhere in the world, Bartholdi said. This year’s packages were sent on April 13 to Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Burma); Tikrit, Iraq (one of the centers of Sunni insurgency); Floranopolis, Brazil (a small island); Harare, Zimbabwe and Apia, Samoa. Most packages arrived with a week or two, but one has yet to be delivered or returned.

DHL beat the competition this year, delivering first to three of the five locations and second to the remaining two. FedEx managed to deliver to three locations, and UPS delivered parcels to two. The remaining packages from FedEx and UPS went undelivered for a variety of reasons. In past races, the carriers traded wins in different locales.

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FedEx Trade Networks launches redesigned WorldTariff web site

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

FedEx Trade Networks, Inc., is launching its redesigned WorldTariffSM Web site. The Web site, located at www.worldtariff.com, provides complete duty and tax information for 123 countries, updated by an editorial staff with region-specific tariff knowledge and local language skills.
The redesigned WorldTariff Web site includes more online duty and tax content, an improved look and feel, on-demand access, and simplified pricing. In addition to annual subscription offerings, WorldTariff now enters the on-demand trade facilitation content market by providing convenient access to duty and tax information without an annual commitment or minimum purchase requirement.
Customers can now register online and pay with a credit card for only USD7 per online query. A USD7 online query provides customers complete duty and tax information for an entire 4-digit heading pertaining to the destination country of their choice (up to 123 countries), including:
• Every fully qualified Harmonized System (HS) code under a chosen 4-digit heading
• Most Favored Nation (MFN) applied duty rate, Value Added Tax (VAT), excise tax and miscellaneous taxes assessed at import
• Preferences that pertain to fully-qualified HS codes under the chosen heading, from all origin countries in the WorldTariff database, all on the same screen
• Tariff descriptions in English
• No annual commitment or minimum purchase requirement (frequent users may still opt for annual subscriptions)

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Self-service evolves with technology

Posted by | Apr 29, 2007 | |

The 24-year-old Grand Rapids, Mich., resident is all about helping herself, which makes her a big fan of self-serve, touch-screen machines.

“I look for one wherever I go,” Johnson said shortly after using a kiosk to order and pay for postage at a Grand Rapids post office. “I’d rather do it myself — get in and get out.”

Devices that let you help yourself with the touch of a screen are spreading, from movie theaters to airports to government agencies. Folks not only can buy groceries and check into flights, they also can renew license plate tags and send express mail.

More than 600,000 self-serve kiosk machines are in use in North America, and retailers and public agencies add more every day, said David Drain, executive director of the Self-Serve & Kiosk Association.

The Michigan Secretary of State’s machines, which are in their second year at some offices, have racked up more than 75,000 transactions in the past year from folks looking to avoid lines.

The same goes for the post office. Use of machines that give 24-hour access to mail services is up 15 percent from last year, with about 58,000 transactions logged in the Grand Rapids area.

Experts say today’s fast-paced, technology-driven lifestyle will only fuel demand for self-serve options.

“I can’t think of how many times I needed something postmarked by a certain day and waited until the last minute,” said Gina Haisma, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in Grand Rapids.

The same goes for license plate tags.

It took Caledonia, Mich., resident Bill Switzer less than a minute to renew the tags for his Chevy Impala at a machine outside the Secretary of State’s office at a shopping mall. The kiosk was a good option because Switzer’s tags were set to expire in a few days and he had waited too long to mail his renewal slip.

Kiosks also reduce lines, which is always an issue at the budget-crunched Secretary of State’s office, Chesney said.

Chesney said her office is in discussions with other state departments to expand service options on the machines. In the future, customers possibly could get car tags, renew a hunting license, register to vote and register a boat all on the same machine.

“We’re looking at having as many options as possible,” Chesney said. “If it can be done (on a machine), we want customers to have that option.”

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